T. Green, MLS 👩🏽‍💻📚🇵🇭🇺🇲

APALA executive board candidates poster with photos of seven candidates and election information. Text: APALA executive board candidates VOTING OPEN THROUGH MONDAY, MARCH 30 Elections: Vice President Treasurer Secretary Members-at-Large Candidates: Jamie Kurumaji, Edward Junhao Lim, Allison Payne, Jenay Dougherty, Jane Martinez Khaytin, Selina Sharmin, Melody Steiner 2026-2027 Elections apala asian pacific american librarians association

APALA members—it's time to vote for your next Executive Board! 🎉 Choose the next VP/President-Elect, Secretary, Treasurer, and 2 Members-at-Large.

Voting ends on March 30, 2026 (11:59 PM ET)

Learn more about the candidates at: www.apalaweb.org/apala-2026-2...

Four-segment panorama of Philadelphia skyline, as viewed from the South Street Bridge.

A reflection from APALA 2025 Travel Grant Recipient, Joe Lee:

"Attending the ALA Conference has reminded me of the importance of community and the power of our unique voices, especially through the written word—now, more than ever."

More on APALA's website: www.apalaweb.org/2025-ala-ref...

Digital poster announcing that applications are open for two 2026 APALA Scholarship Awards. Text: APPLICATIONS ARE NOW OPEN! For the: 2026 APALA Scholarship Award JCLC NALCo LIS Student Scholarship All applications are due on Monday, March 23, 2026! Learn more and apply at: https://www.apalaweb.org/awards/apala-scholarship/ APALA - asian pacific american librarians association

We're excited to announce that applications are now open for two scholarships: The APALA Scholarship and the JCLC NALCo LIS Student Scholarship!

To apply and get more information, check out: www.apalaweb.org/awards/apala...

Applications are due on March 23rd, so don't delay!

ED’s DEI Guidance Is Dead, but Trump’s Crackdown Isn’t Diversity advocates say the courts have been clear—Trump has no justification to ban DEI. But other legal experts say the administration has plenty of other tools it can use to accomplish the same goa...

This government has already demonstrated in the past year that they push through and do whatever they want, in spite of the courts.

www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

Hard agree. And a prime example of why I state doing more with less.

A group of Hindu students were seen forming a human chain to protect Muslim students praying at India’s Lucknow University after authorities locked the campus mosque.

I spend a bit of time thinking about higher ed finance. If departments can find ways to fill upper-level classes with non-majors to support a small number of majors, they're passing any reasonable financial test. But it's more complicated than using the simplest metric...degrees.

These are “low enrollment” majors but the classes are regularly at capacity. They changed the funding structure a few years ago here, switching the allocation from course enrollments to majors then blamed these departments for a structural, top-down change. This is entirely a political choice.

Howard County parts ways with 55 librarian support staffers The Howard County Library System has quietly terminated 55 support staffers who primarily stack shelves, drawing a sharp rebuke from the system’s employees union.

As if those in the support staff ranks are Star Trek Original Series red shirts... Never mind that the librarians, are, again expected to do more with less.

www.thebanner.com/politics-pow...

Correct

Also worth considering how many universities caved in advance, either proudly and loudly or quietly

"But recent statements and actions from the Trump administration suggest the effort to end all diversity, equity and inclusion programs is far from over. And other legal experts with more separation from the court cases warn that ED and other federal agencies still have a variety of other tools"

And pull whichever tools there see as fit for their aims...

ED’s DEI Guidance Is Dead, but Trump’s Crackdown Isn’t Diversity advocates say the courts have been clear—Trump has no justification to ban DEI. But other legal experts say the administration has plenty of other tools it can use to accomplish the same goa...

This government has already demonstrated in the past year that they push through and do whatever they want, in spite of the courts.

www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

Most Conservative Students Don’t Feel Persecuted on Campus A new survey of college students contradicts Republican rhetoric that campus culture is hostile to right-wing views.

"Despite widespread political rhetoric claiming that colleges suppress conservative viewpoints, new data shows that most college students feel free to express themselves regardless of their political affiliation. " #HigherEd

www.insidehighered.com/news/student...

FATHER SHANLEY: HANDS OFF ST. JOHN’S FACULTY UNIONS! We are shocked by President Rev. Brian J. Shanley, O.P.’s recent attack on the two faculty labor unions at St. John’s University. On Thursday, February 19, 2026, Father Shanley informed faculty via em...

St. John's University has withdrawn recognition from the faculty union, 234 days since contract expiration. Shocking assault on labor rights.

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

As I've said to a friend today, "One of them is a Reviewer Two, if not both."

The Misuses of the University - Public Books Have the funds that might have trained the next generation of scholars at the nation’s first research university have been blown on ostentatious new buildings?

“Everyone thinks universities have to do what donors want because they pay the bills. But that gets it backward, and not just at Hopkins.”

I highly recommend reading this piece.

www.publicbooks.org/the-misuses-...

Grant Guidelines for Libraries and Museums Take “Chilling” Political Turn Under Trump Former Institute of Museum and Library Services leaders from both political parties expressed concern that the new funding guidelines could encourage a more constrained or distorted view of American h...

Grant Guidelines for Libraries and Museums Take “Chilling” Political Turn Under Trump www.propublica.org/article/inst...

What “free public library” means is that NO ONE is to feel intimidated from going to *their community’s* public library and checking out a book.

Librarian here. We grant library cards to ALL residents, no matter their age or legal status. Our ID requirements pertain to establishing residency only. Do not invoke libraries, which embrace *everyone* in its civic fold, as a precedent for measures designed to *suppress* civic participation.

OK, let’s discuss what’s happened with the proposed NYC public libraries budget for FY 27. Mayor Mamdani @mayor.nyc.gov released his preliminary budget yesterday. This kicks off the city budget process. [Long thread]

Mayor Mamdani Breaks His Promise to NYC Public Libraries The Struggle Against Defunding Libraries Continues...

I hope New Yorkers will challenge Mamdani about this. Too often, people feel they need to be absolutely for or against a politician — ignoring their missteps or throwing them out with the bathwater. You can like and/or believe in someone and still challenge them to deliver on their promises.

NYC Public Library Action Network Read our response in our latest newsletter Mar 21 at Make the Road New York (in Queens). Learn how you can advocate for increased public library funding, hear more about the services that libraries…

Public libraries are actually existing examples of the world we want. We should not have to fight for them under a democratic socialist mayor.

@nycplan.org is organizing a response. Tell Mamdani to make good on his commitment to baseline funding for libraries!

nycplan.org

Immediate Reinstatement of Fourth CUNY Terminated Adjunct Faculty Member and Defense of Academic Freedom Send a Letter to Brooklyn College President Michelle Anderson, Brooklyn College Provost April Bedford, CUNY Chancellor Félix Matos Rodríguez, and CUNY Board Chairperson William Thompson. Three of the...

I just wrote a @theactionnetwork.bsky.social letter: Immediate Reinstatement of Fourth CUNY Terminated Adjunct Faculty Member and Defense of Academic Freedom. Write one here: actionnetwork.org/letters/imme...

I Love Libraries. My Mayor Doesn't. | FT Get more from FT on Patreon

Here's another excellent post by @fucktheory.bsky.social (whose Patreon is a gem & I recommend supporting) about the importance of libraries & the window of opportunity in which you can take action www.patreon.com/posts/i-love...

They are very likely to pull the levers they can, however...

Our clients are Harvard Medical School doctors whose work was scrubbed for containing the words "LGBTQ" and "transgender."

Our settlement means their critical research on suicide risk and endometriosis cannot be removed again.

BREAKING: We reached a settlement that requires the Trump administration to permanently maintain medical research that had been erased on a government website.

The government doesn't get to censor science.

They are very likely to pull the levers they can, however...

It’s going to sound quaint, but the best way to resist an AI takeover of the humanities is to assign physical books, sit around, read them, and argue about ideas. Academic has become such a competitive arena, that we ourselves are trained to look for the winning angle, instead of the best education.